I love foods that carry a kick. In my book, though, a little spice goes a long way; a touch of chili paste or a dash of cayenne is sufficient. I’m one of those people that asks for mild or a heat level of 1 or 2 out of 5. Just enough and I’m in culinary heaven.

But even mildly spicy foods can build up heat over time, and you need some kind of gentle salve to bring the delicious pain back down. One of my favorite desserts to do just this is rice pudding. It’s creamy and sugary, and has a touch of cardamom to give it a different kind of spice. (If you’ve ever been to an Indian restaurant, rice pudding is a pretty standard find on the menu to wrap a spice-filled meal.)

Here is a vegan version of an Indian rice pudding recipe I found online. If you use the same milk replacements I used, you can omit the sugar. It’s sweet enough without it. It’s also a very forgiving recipe, so if you don’t want to use cardamom, try cinnamon instead. Don’t like or have raisins or pistachios? Leave them out or replace them with something else.

Vegan Rice Pudding
Based on the Indian Rice Pudding found on Food Network
Makes approximately 4 small servings

• 1 cup cooked long grain or basmati rice
• 1 cup vegan milk
• 1/2 cup vegan milk, vegan creamer or vegan heavy cream alternative
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/3 cup golden raisins (optional)
• 1/3 cup unsalted pistachios, chopped (optional)

Cook your rice according to the package directions.

I used long grain white rice

Once the rice is ready, in a large nonstick saute pan over medium heat, combine the cooked rice and first cup of vegan milk. Heat until the mixture begins to boil.

Mixing in the first cup of vegan milk

Decrease the heat to low and cook at a simmer until the mixture begins to thicken, stirring frequently, approximately 5 minutes.

Starting to thicken

Increase the heat to medium, add the vegan heavy cream alternative and the coconut milk, sugar (if needed) and cardamom and continue to cook until the mixture just begins to thicken again, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Use a whisk to help prevent the cardamom from clumping.

Adding in the remaining milks: MimicCreme and coconut cream

I wound up using this sweetened MimicCreme as a substitute for the heavy cream. It’s very sweet, so it’s best to omit the sugar in this recipe if you use this stuff. I also used a sweetened coconut cream, however my first preference would have been for unsweetened coconut milk.

I used this MimicCreme in place of heavy cream

Once the mixture just begins to thicken, remove from the heat and stir in the raisins and pistachios (if using).

Adding golden raisins to the creamy rice mixture

Transfer the mixture to individual serving dishes or a glass bowl and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding.

Getting ready to chill the rice pudding

Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Chilled and ready to eat!

This is really a pretty good recipe, but next time I would use a vegan creamer as a substitute for the heavy cream, and unsweetened coconut milk. I also didn’t use pistachios because I didn’t have them on hand, but I am sure they would have been delicious.

There is just one teensy thing, and I don’t know if it is because of the rice I used or what, but when I had let this chill overnight, the rice seemed to have dried out – which is odd to me, because the rice is sitting in a thick liquid.  When I had a bite right after it was finished cooking, the texture was perfect. So I think that what I’d do next time is plan to make this pudding the same day it would be eaten, then chill it for only a couple of hours at most.

Otherwise this is a delicious pudding and a perfect end to a spicy meal or a hot summer’s day!

Done and yum.

Do you have a favorite rice pudding?

Homemade vegan ice cream sandwiches

Officially summer = officially time to make ice cream, even here in the Pacific Northwest. Last week, I finally got my ice cream maker out of its box, cleaned it up and stuck it in the freezer. It was time.

But then I realized I could take my ice cream one step further – ice cream sandwiches. I had never made my own ice cream sandwiches, but it’s really not that hard. It just takes a bit of time and effort, and once you’re done you’re rewarded with some pretty good tasting stuff.

How easy is it? Well, if you’re not up for baking cookies or making your own ice cream, just grab a box of your favorite vegan cookies (any should do) and your favorite vegan ice cream (vanilla is probably best) and start making sandwiches. But if you want to go the homemade route, then read on.

You can make ice cream sandwiches with any cookie. At first I thought I’d go with chocolate chip, and a part of me wanted to go with oatmeal raisin, but then I remembered a recipe for chocolate cookies I had come across a few years ago on FatFree Vegan Kitchen. I only modified the recipe a tad, and they are absolutely perfect for this summer vegan recipe.

Vegan Chocolate Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen cookies

• 1 cup unbleached white flour (or to make it gluten-free, use gluten-free baking flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons vegan butter
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup soy yogurt or vegan milk (if you use vegan milk, you may need to increase the flour by a tablespoon or two)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• Sugar or Celtic sea salt, both optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Mix the flour, soda, and salt together and set aside.

Mixing flour, baking soda and salt

In another bowl, mix the cocoa with the granulated and brown sugars and set aside.

Mixing cocoa powder with granulated and brown sugars

Melt the vegan butter in a medium-sized saucepan. When it is completely melted, take it off the heat and add the sugar and cocoa mixture, then stir to combine.

Melting the butter, then adding cocoa mixture to it

Then add the soy yogurt or vegan milk, vanilla extract and balsamic vinegar and stir until mixed.

Mixing together cocoa mixture with vegan milk, balsamic vinegar and vanilla extract

Finally, add the flour mixture and stir just until it’s combined, but don’t over-mix.

The cookie batter finally comes together!

Using a cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop tablespoons of the dough onto the baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Chocolate cookies ready to go into the oven

If you want your cookies to be uniformly round, instead grab a spoonful and roll it in your hands for a few seconds then place the cookie ball on the sheet. It will be more perfectly round that way.

Sprinkle lightly with your choice of vanilla sugar or Celtic sea salt (I opted for the latter on about half of the cookies), and place them in the oven.

Adding a sprinkling of Celtic sea salt to my chocolate cookies

After about five minutes, switch the pans around so that the one on top is on the bottom and the front sides are in the back. Check again in another five minutes. Be careful – depending on the type of pan you use, they can go from underdone to burned in seconds. They shouldn’t need more than 11 minutes and will look soft on top, but they’ll harden as they cool. Note that I baked these for a maximum of 10 minutes because I wanted to keep them a little on the chewy side.

Remove from the oven and transfer onto cooling racks.

A mix of small and large cookies, some with salt on top and some without

Next thing I did was make a basic recipe of coconut ice cream. I also doubled this recipe, but it’s really probably not necessary. I still have some ice cream in the freezer that I didn’t use.

The ice cream was still too soft once it was done, so I stuck it in the freezer overnight. I used a metal bowl and just covered it with plastic wrap.

Perfectly frozen coconut ice cream

I then used a melon baller scoop and scooped out a generous amount of ice cream and placed it on the bottom side of a cookie. Take another similarly shaped and sized cookie and place it bottom down on top of the ice cream and press down.

Finally - introducing the ice cream and the cookies so they can party together!

You can either do one of two things:

1. Eat it right away, but it will definitely be more messy because it will melt fast.
2. Stick in your freezer for a few hours, then individually wrap each in plastic wrap and store in your freezer for up to five days.

Yum - vegan ice cream sandwich

These are fantastic, but I would definitely allow a couple of days to prepare if you are making these totally from scratch for a party, picnic or event. I thought I’d be able to make them in one day, but the ice cream really needs to be pretty well frozen to make it easy to put these babies together.

One variation I wish I had tried: blending a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter with the ice cream mixture. That would have been pretty awesome. A good excuse to make them again!

Do you ever make ice cream sandwiches? What is your favorite combo?

Vegetarian Udon Noodle Soup

I love many cuisines from Mexican to Italian to Spanish to good old fashioned American, but if I were really honest with myself I’d have to confess that my absolute favorite is Asian. I say “Asian” because I cannot commit to any particular aspect of the breadth of Asian foods. I’m in love with Indian breads, samosas, and papadum, I salivate over Korean kimchi and bibimbap, and I crave Japanese sushi rolls and inari for weeks at a time – and that’s just scratching the surface.

While I do prepare some Asian foods at home on occasion, I admit that I am still a little wary that I don’t understand how to cook it well enough. That said, I am really fortunate to live so close to multiple Asian markets, and I feel that I am slowly stretching my culinary wings. It’s easy to go into one of these stores, discover an ingredient remembered from a restaurant and have the impulse to buy it and try replicating the dish at home. This is what happened last week as I was wandering down the pasta aisle and came upon some Japanese style udon noodles. As soon as I saw them, I realized that I needed to learn how to make udon noodle soup.

After researching various recipes I have come to realize that udon noodle soup is less about recipe and more about what you have on hand. In many ways, it is very similar to how I am used to throwing together a hearty vegetable soup without wondering if I have added too many or not enough potatoes or carrots, or worrying if I have a specific ingredient on hand or not. It doesn’t really matter, because the end result will still be delicious. What I found is that most udon noodle recipes call for a broth, noodles, some vegetables and mushrooms, and a protein. It’s my opinion that the key is to get the broth down, and then experiment, experiment and experiment. Luckily my first try had me wanting to recreate it the next day, so this recipe I’m sharing with you is a winner in my book.

Vegetarian Udon Noodle Soup
Roughly based upon the Easy Udon Noodle Snack Recipe found on The Messy Vegetarian Cook
Makes 2 servings

• 3 cups water
• 1/2 to 1 cup mushrooms (you can use most any mushroom you like, but I used king oyster and the original recipe calls for shiitake)
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 2 teaspoons mirin or rice vinegar
• 4 teaspoons tamari, soy sauce or Bragg Liquid Aminos (if you do not have any of these on hand, you may also substitute 2 heaping teaspoons miso)
• 1/2 teaspoon vegan sugar
• 1 sheet nori, cut into small pieces or strips
• 2 dry red chili peppers, optional
• 1/4 cup tofu or another vegetable or wheat protein, optional
• 1/4 cup carrots, julienned
• Dry udon noodles (enough for two servings – this is usually one or two individually separated bunches of noodles)
• Salt
• Sesame oil (optional, but so divine – I highly recommend not skipping this ingredient)
• Green onions or chives (optional)

First prepare your broth. I used about half of a king oyster mushroom, and diced it into bite-sized pieces.

King oyster mushrooms are said to taste similar to abalone

Mince your ginger by first cutting off a small amount from the main part of the root, then peeling away the outer skin. You can also crush it like garlic.

Dicing fresh ginger

Julienne your carrots. “Julienne” just means that you’re cutting your veggie into little strips.

Julienned carrots

Place the water, mushrooms, ginger, carrots, mirin, tamari (or soy sauce or Bragg Liquid Aminos), sugar and nori into the broth. If you are using chili peppers, you can add those in now, too.

Tip: If you are going to use miso as a substitute for the tamari, you will need to add that at the end after the broth has finished cooking.

Dried red chili peppers

If you don’t want your carrots to overcook, add them after the broth has boiled.

Bring your pan of ingredients to boil, stirring occasionally, then turn the heat down to medium low or low.

Udon noodle soup broth

Add in your protein now so it will warm up.

Vegetarian Mock Abalone a.k.a. wheat gluten (and oops - this had MSG in it!)

Allow the broth to steep for about twenty minutes.

If you are using miso, you may add it after the broth has finished cooking and has been removed from the heat. Miso takes a few moments to dissolve, so be sure to stir the broth a few times.

Adding the miso to the broth

Cook the noodles as instructed with a little salt. These cook fast, so be sure you are giving these guys your full attention. Once they are done cooking, drain and rinse under cold water.

Japanese style udon noodles

Once the broth is done, add some noodles to a bowl, then ladle the broth over the noodles.

Almost ready!

Drizzle a small amount of sesame oil over the soup, add some sliced green onions as a garnish.

Tip: Be sure to rinse the green onions really well to get rid of any specks of dirt that may have gotten stuck inside the onion as it was growing.

Sliced green onion

Serve.

So so good!

I loved this soup. It was full of flavor, had tons of texture and really hit the spot. Plus it makes me want to come up more variations. Remember, if you don’t have a particular ingredient on hand, don’t fret – you can experiment and discover your own unique soup, too!

What is your favorite Asian cuisine or dish – or can you even decide?

Easy vegan apple turnovers

Over the last few days I have been thinking about and eating these apple turnovers, and realizing how perfect they are – and how much like apple pie they taste. Of course, they should. Instead of phyllo dough, these are made with pie crust, and the filling is pretty much the same as apple pie: apples, cinnamon, sugar, a touch of flour and a pinch of salt. It’s like a portable apple pie, except you probably won’t make it five feet to your destination before these are done. In fact, you’ll probably stop and just be in the moment, letting the flavors and textures filter through your mouth. Then you’ll wish you had another one like I do right now. How I could go for another right this very instant.

Easy Apple Turnovers
Makes approximately one dozen apple turnovers

Pastry Crust (for a two-crust pie)
This is a revised version of the two-crust recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegan butter
• 4 to 6 tablespoons cold water

Filling

• 2 medium apples, peeled, cored and chopped or sliced
• Cinnamon
• Sugar
• Flour
• Pinch of salt

In a large bowl mix together your dry ingredients for the pie crust, then cut in the vegan butter until it is well incorporated.

Making the crust

Sprinkle the cold water over the dough one tablespoon at a time, mixing with a fork until the dough begins to cling together and leave the sides of the bowl. If the dough seems too moist just add in a little more flour.

Adding water to pull the dough together

With your hands, form the dough into two balls, then press each down a little so they are more in the shape of a disk. Cover them individually with plastic wrap, or put them into a plastic bag that can be sealed and place in the refrigerator for about half an hour. This will help to make the crust more flaky, as well as make it easier to roll out.

Pie dough!

As your dough is chilling, peel, core and chop your apples. In these pictures I have four apples, but I discovered that I was very much overestimating! Two apples should be sufficient for this recipe.

Peeling and cutting apples

Once your apples are chopped or sliced (sliced might actually be easier for making the turnovers), sprinkle them with cinnamon (not too much – maybe 1/4 teaspoon), sugar, flour and a pinch of salt. You don’t need much of each – just use your judgment and remember that you can always add more, but you can’t take away.

Tip: Note that the purpose of the flour is to help the juices of the apples to thicken as they are released in baking.

Spicing up the filling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Take one disk of dough out of the refrigerator, and roll it out. You may roll it out into a rectangle then cut equal-sized large squares or you can use a very large round biscuit or cookie cutter to cut each piece.

I used a large round cookie cutter - the largest I have

Place a few apples on top of each piece of dough, then fold it over. If it cannot easily seal, you may need to remove some of the apples.

Press the edges together, and fold over and press (this will help to avoid the apple liquid from leaking out and sticking to your pan – although some will still invariably leak). Score the top of each turnover with a knife to allow the steam from the apples to escape during baking. Place each on a cookie sheet.

Forming the turnovers

Once each turnover is formed, place them in the oven and bake for about 35 – 40 minutes or until golden on top. Allow to cool, then serve.

Apple turnovers!

Do you ever make turnovers? What is your preference for filling or dough?

Mmmmm....

Learn more about Vegan MoFo.

Orange Chocolate Brownies

Do you remember those dark or milk chocolate oranges from your childhood? They would come wrapped tightly in bright orange foil, and when you’d open one of them up you would see something like a dozen pieces of chocolate in the shape of orange wedges. Taking a bite, the taste of orange and chocolate would fill your mouth. I think I still see those around, but it’s been years since I’ve had one. Still, the combination of orange and chocolate flavors is a good one and enticing to try bringing into the kitchen.

Part of my bounty of oranges

I recently purchased a large box of oranges, and I am finding that I am the only person eating them. It’s hard for me to keep up, so I have been trying to think of ways to use the oranges other than eating them one by one. I have been craving brownies lately, so I decided to try making orange chocolate brownies. The recipe I based the brownies off of is a basic one, so I really was testing out the use of orange in it. The brownies turned out great, but I will say that they are not solid brownies – they fall apart easily – so this recipe is better used where the brownies are a topping to your vegan ice cream (a suggestion my husband had after trying one).

Orange Chocolate Brownies
This recipe is adapted from Best Brownies on AllRecipes.com

• 1/2 vegan butter
• 1 cup vegan white sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground flax
• 3 tablespoons hot water
• 3 tablespoons orange juice, or the juice from 1/2 of an orange
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and grease an 8-inch square pan. I usually just use Earth Balance.

Greasing the pan with Earth Balance

Mix your hot water and ground flax together with a fork. It will be very thick, because normally you would mix in an additional three tablespoons of hot water, but we’re going to substitute the orange juice in later.

This is what we're using to bind the brownies

Go ahead and grate your orange peel (if you’re using it). I love this Microplane grater/zester – it works really well.

Grating an orange

You can also go ahead and juice half of your orange if you are going to use fresh orange juice as opposed to store-bought.

Juicing an orange

In a large saucepan, melt your butter.

Melting the Earth Balance

When it has all melted, take it off the heat and then stir in the sugar, flax mixture, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla. You’ll want to try to mix it very well, because if you let the flax mixture sit for too long it may not incorporate very well. To be honest, I was very tempted to toss this into the food processor, but I decided not to. That definitely would have made this part of the batter smoother.

Mix well!

Add in the cocoa powder. As soon as I did this, it smelled like that chocolate orange candy to me!

Mixing in the cocoa powder

Mix in the remaining dry ingredients: flour, salt and baking powder.

Nearly done!

Pour it into your greased pan, then stick it in the oven for about 30 minutes. You may want to go an additional five minutes or so in case it is not done in the middle.

Pouring the brownie batter into the pan

When it’s done, allow the pan to cool for a few minutes, then you can serve warm. Again, because these are a little more delicate than other brownies, you may want to use this as a topping to vegan ice cream.

Orange chocolate brownie

This experiment turned out great! The orange flavor was definitely present, but it was not overwhelming, and the brownies tasted really quite decadent.

There are two things, though. These were very greasy – I might cut the amount of butter down by a few tablespoons next time, and to make them a little more solid I might increase the flour a little bit. The key is to not make them cake-like. The point of brownies is to have something that is a lot more moist and dense than cake, so perhaps my next experiment will be to try to find that happy balance.

Bringing back memories of those chocolate oranges from my childhood...

Do you like brownies? And have you ever experimented with making different flavors of brownies?

YUM.

It hasn’t been until the last few years that I have gotten into scones (I think that I used to confuse them with biscotti and assumed that they would be dry and hard), and even then I haven’t made them with much frequency. I was pleasantly surprised when I bit into my first scone – rich, moist and just a little bit sweet. Much like a sweet version of a savory biscuit. I decided it was high time to make scones again the other day, and I’m glad I did – although I wish I hadn’t eaten them all already. I could so go for another right now!

Orange Scones
This recipe makes approximately 8 large scones, and is based upon the cranberry orange scones recipe at epicurious.com.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 3/4 cup vegan butter, cut into chunks
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice (the juice of a medium sized orange is about 1/4 cup)
• 3/4 cup vegan milk

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Sift your flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda together in a large bowl.

Sifting the dry ingredients together

Grate your orange peel. I used a medium-sized orange and it yielded me approximately 1 tablespoon of orange zest. Also this grater is awesome.

Getting my grated orange peel

Mix the orange peel with your sifted ingredients.

Mixing orange zest with the sifted dry ingredients

Add your vegan butter and mix together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse meal. You can probably also use a pastry cutter if you do not want to mix with your hands.

Mixing the vegan butter with your dry ingredients

If you haven’t already, squeeze your fresh orange juice.

Fresh orange juice

Mix the orange juice and vegan milk together, then gradually pour it into your mixture, tossing with a fork until moist clumps form.

Mixing together the wet and dry ingredients

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead it briefly to mix the dough well (about four turns). Form the dough into a circle, about 1/2 inch thick.

Nearly there...

Take a knife and cut into 8 wedges. Alternatively, you can use a biscuit cutter to cut several round pieces. Place the scones about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet.

Cutting the orange scones

Bake in your preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until the tops of the scones are golden brown.

Vegan scones fresh out of the oven

After taking the scones out of the oven, let them sit on their baking sheet for about 10 minutes. You can then serve them warm or at room temperature. I recommend using vegan clotted cream as a topping or they are delicious on their own.

Also, while I am not a huge fan of cranberries, I do think that these would taste really nice with some cranberries and/or some slivered almonds mixed in. Or instead of orange zest and juice, consider lemon zest and juice. Be creative – you’re sure to come up with some really fantastic variations.

Vegan orange scones

Do you ever make scones? What is your favorite kind?

Mexican Cornbread

Most of my childhood was spent in the South – Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. I grew up with things like fried green tomatoes, grits and boiled peanuts. I liked them all, but one Southern food I never enjoyed that much was cornbread. It was just okay and I often found it to be dry and bland. But my whole family seemed to enjoy it, so we had it with frequency. I was eventually introduced to Mexican cornbread, and I loved it. It was flavorful and moist, and ever since then I have thought off and on that I should try and make it.

As I was trying to decide what to make yesterday, I realized that I had everything I needed to make Mexican cornbread. This recipe doesn’t contain cheese (of course), but we tried it with some vegan butter and nutritional yeast sprinkled on top and it added a nice extra saltiness and savory flavor.

Mexican Cornbread

• 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
• 2 1/2 cups vegan milk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
• Egg replacer for two eggs (if using flax, mix together 2 tablespoons ground flax seed and 6 tablespoons hot water)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 or 1 onion, chopped
• 2 jalapeños, stemmed, seeds removed and chopped (if using sliced jalapeños from a jar, measure out about 1/8 cup)
• Corn, optional
• Sweet pepper, chopped, optional

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan. If you are using a smaller pan like I did (I used an 8×11-inch pan), you may want to preheat to 350 or 375 degrees Fahrenheit, because it will take longer to bake and you don’t want the bread to burn.

In a small bowl, combine the cornmeal and vegan milk. Make sure to mix it well so there are few or no lumps left. Set aside.

Mixing cornmeal with vegan milk

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. I like to use a wire whisk to make sure everything is well incorporated.

Mixing dry ingredients

If you haven’t already, prepare your onion and jalapeños, and set aside in a bowl. The pepper will not yield a lot of heat in the end, so you could probably add more if you wanted.

Chopping up onions and peppers

Add the liquid cornmeal mixture, egg replacer and oil to the large bowl of dry ingredients and mix well so that no lumps remain. Whisk together for several minutes (maximum of five).

Mixing the wet and dry ingredients together

Stir in the onions and peppers, as well as any other optional ingredients (like corn), then pour into your baking dish.

Stirring in the onions and peppers

Put in the oven and check after 35 minutes of baking. Insert a knife or toothpick in the middle and if it comes out clean then take it out of the oven. Because of the size of my pan I baked probably a total of 55 minutes, with the last 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mexican cornbread, fresh from the oven

This was really very good, and was extremely moist from the fresh onions and jalapeños. Because of the level of moisture it had to be eaten with a fork. Still, it was flavorful and delicious, especially with some vegan butter spread on it. This would be great as an accompaniment to soup or salad.

Do you ever make Mexican cornbread? What extras do you like to add?

Homemade Kimchee

If I remember correctly, the first time I was introduced to kimchee was when I was living in a dorm. One of my friends was Korean, and she would sometimes have good homemade Korean food after being at home for the weekend or on vacation. At least one of those times she brought kimchee. I was hooked, but our dean was not. She thought the smell was so rank and terrible that she wound up banning kimchee from the dorm. Although disappointing, I still managed to have it every now and then, and over the past couple of years we have been making our own at home.

In case you’re wondering, kimchee (also spelled kimchi or kim chee) is an all encompassing word for the many varieties of fermented foods found in Korean cuisine. Typically, kimchee is made with a variety of vegetables, with the most popular tending to be napa cabbage. While a lot of kimchee is vegan, not all of it is – oftentimes you will see shrimp or other seafood found in the ingredients list on a commercial bag or jar. Vegan varieties do exist, and my favorite brand that I have come across so far is Sunja’s Kimchee.

Like other fermented foods (i.e. sauerkraut and pickles), kimchee is extremely good for you. Not only is it low in calories, it is high in fiber, contains a lot of vitamins and minerals, and it also contains beneficial bacteria which aids in digestion. When I have felt a cold coming on or if my digestion seems to have slowed down, even a quarter cup or half a cup of kimchee a day will help turn things around. Health Magazine has named kimchee one of the world’s healthiest foods.

While you can go out and grab a jar of kimchee, there is nothing more satisfying than knowing that you can make it yourself at home. If you’re anything like I was, you are probably overwhelmed at the thought of making your own kimchee or any type of fermented food. What if you do something wrong? What if you have to spend a lot of money to get started? What if you don’t like it?

I will admit that it does require a certain amount of work, but once you get the hang of it you’ll find that it goes easier and faster. There are many different ways to make kimchee, but I am going to show you how to make it in a Harsch fermentation crock with the ingredients I like to use. I first learned how to make kimchi using the very detailed instructions in this .pdf, so if you are still overwhelmed at the prospect of making your own kimchee this should also give you some good information that I may not be sharing in my post. (I’ve noticed that the original link to this .pdf no longer exists, so if the link I provide here no longer works, let me know and I can try to find another alternate link or email it to you directly.)

Kimchee

• 1 head napa cabbage
• 3 or 4 carrots, peeled and grated
• Daikon radish (this comes in varying sizes, so I would choose a small one), chopped
• 1 bunch of scallions, chopped
• About 1-inch size of ginger, peeled and chopped finely
• Coarse sea salt
• Crushed red pepper
• Sugar or agave nectar

First, boil about 4 or 5 tablespoons of salt in 8 cups of water, and let completely cool.

Boiling salt water

You will use this salt water at a later point when you are nearly done making the kimchee.

Take your head of napa cabbage and discard the damaged outer leaves. Remove about 3 or 4 of the intact outer leaves and salt them, then put in a large glass or plastic bowl (not metal).

Salting the napa cabbage

At this point I like to take the rest of the cabbage and chop it up into bite-sized pieces. Some kimchee is made where all the leaves are essentially left whole, but we like ours chopped up. Salt as much of the pieces as you can and put them in your large bowl with the larger outer leaves. Cover with water, and weigh down the cabbage with a bowl or plate. Let it sit for at least two hours.

Salting and then soaking the cabbage

I am using this salt which I have only been able to find in Korean grocery stores. If you do not have a Korean grocery store near you, you can try to use another sea salt or you can order it online. There are many different brands of Korean sea salt, so the one in the picture is not your only option.

Kimchee sea salt

After a couple of hours you’ll find that the cabbage has wilted. Drain the water and rinse the cabbage well.

Wilted napa cabbage

Prepare your other vegetables that you wish to use in your kimchee. Here I am using carrots, daikon, scallions and ginger.

Carrots, scallions, daikon and ginger

Add crushed red pepper (I usually do about two tablespoons which makes a batch of kimchee this size mildly spicy to medium spicy), a couple of tablespoons of salt and about a teaspoon of sugar (this is optional, but it gives the bacteria a boost). Mix all the ingredients together by hand, including the cabbage except for the larger leaves (it’s a good idea if you can use kitchen gloves, because the red pepper and salt can irritate your hands).

Making the kimchee spicy

Again, the red pepper can be found in Korean grocery stores, but I wouldn’t substitute on this one. If you can’t find it near you, then try to purchase it online. There are also many brands of red pepper, so you don’t need to be picky.

Once everything has been well mixed, place the kimchee mixture into the Harsch crock. We have a 5-liter crock, which is the smallest size that this company makes. Don’t let the size fool you, though. It can make about twice or triple the batch you’re seeing here, and the crock itself is extremely heavy.

Harsch fermentation crock

Once you have everything in the crock, take a dowel or rolling pin and mash your vegetables for a few minutes. This helps to release some of the vegetable’s water.

Mashing the kimchee vegetables

Once you are done, place the large leaves of cabbage over the top of the kimchee, then on top of that place the two half moon ceramic pieces that come with the crock. These weigh the kimchee down so that it stays below the water.

Covering up the kimchee

Pour the salt water on top of the two ceramic pieces until they are covered. Place the lid on top of the crock, then fill the reservoir with water so that the holes on the side of the lid are adequately covered. This makes it so that oxygen does not enter the kimchee as it is fermenting. After a few hours or on the second day you may see bubbles escape through the water – this means that your kimchee is fermenting!

Kimchee fermenting in the Harsch crock

I like to let my kimchee ferment for about four days, but some people prefer shorter or longer fermentation periods. As tempting as it may be, do not open the crock until you plan to take your kimchee out! It won’t necessarily ruin the kimchee, but when oxygen comes in contact with it, there is a greater chance for mold.

About to take out the kimchee

When you open up your crock and take a look at the kimchee, do check for floating mold or slime. This batch didn’t have any, but to be on the safe side, I still discarded some of the top part of the kimchee juice (including the floating veggies) before removing the kimchee from the crock.

When your kimchee is done, you can store it in a glass container in the refrigerator. If you use a container with an air tight seal, make sure it is not completely closed as the fermentation will still continue in the refrigerator and the air will still need a way to escape. I like to store my kimchee in mason jars, and as you can see I used a plastic sandwich bag and a plastic lid. I have used regular canning lids, but have found that they do disintegrate and start to rust after a while from the acids in the kimchee, so a plastic barrier of some kind is my current solution.

Storing kimchee

It has been a while since I’ve made kimchee, so I made a smaller batch this time. It turned out nicely, although it is a pretty sour one. My husband would probably prefer a milder kimchee (and sans ginger), so a couple of days of fermentation might have yielded him a nicer kimchee.

Still, if you wind up with kimchee that is too spicy or sour, there are ways that you can use it without throwing it out. We enjoy using it in stir fry, or a lot of Koreans will make soup or pancakes (not your breakfast variety) with them. It’s also nice to have with a simple bowl of rice, which will cut the heat and sourness down a little bit. The nice thing is that your kimchi will last for months and sometimes up to a year, so there is time for you to figure out how best to use it.

Never had kimchee before? Before you do anything else, I would strongly suggest that you find a small jar of kimchee at your local health food store, or a store like Whole Foods. It is not something that everyone likes, so before you commit yourself to making it, try it first.

I also recommend watching some videos on how to make kimchee. It’s not necessary to use a fermentation crock – and it’s not even necessary to ferment it before eating it. As they say, variety is the spice of life. ;)

Have you made kimchee before? How do you make it?

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

After launching my new Facebook fan page for Novel Eats, I asked if anyone had requests for pre-Thanksgiving recipes. Someone suggested pumpkin cinnamon rolls, and others chimed in that they would love to see them. Sadly, as you can tell, it’s a little post-Thanksgiving. With traveling, vacation time, and still trying to get our bearings in Washington, I just couldn’t post until now. I did make these before the holiday, if that counts!

Big disclaimer – this is a very experimental recipe. I haven’t played around with the cinnamon rolls recipe too much, so I still have to figure out what its limitations are in relation to all the ideas floating out there. Since it’s an experiment, this is a smaller batch, but even then I found I had to add extra flour for the dough to be firm and smooth after the additional moisture that the pumpkin puree brought to the recipe. I also discovered that it would probably do better to bake at a lower temperature for longer, because the dough was still too doughy after baking the rolls. If you choose to experiment with this recipe, I’ve added some notes throughout that may help you have a more successful batch than I.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

Note: Since I was experimenting with this recipe, this is basically a half batch of the regular cinnamon rolls recipe that I posted a few months ago.

• 1½ teaspoons active dry yeast
• ¼ cup unbleached sugar
• ¼ cup pumpkin puree (Idea: increase the pumpkin for a stronger flavor, but you’ll need to reduce the liquid in the recipe as well as probably add even more flour)
• ½ cup vegan milk, warmed
• Egg replacer the equivalent of one egg OR 1tablespoons ground flax seeds whisked together with 3 tablespoons hot water
• 3 tablespoons vegan butter, melted
• 2 ¾ cups unbleached flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup brown sugar, packed
• ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon (Idea: maybe reduce this and add some other ground spices like nutmeg, ginger and allspice)
• 3 tablespoons vegan butter, softened
• Optional: raisins, nuts

Mix yeast, sugar, and heated vegan milk in a large mixing bowl and let stand until foamy. Add egg replacer, pumpkin, melted vegan butter, flour, and salt.

Making pumpkin cinnamon rolls

Mix well and knead for 5-10 minutes. The dough should be firm and smooth, not sticky. Note that I kept having to add flour to the mixer at this stage until it looked pliable like this. It was too sticky of a dough otherwise. My suggestion would be to add a tablespoon of flour at a time so as to not accidentally make it too dry.

Set the dough aside in a covered bowl and let double in size.

Mixing the dough

After the dough has doubled, turn it out onto a floured work surface, cover, and let rest for 10 more minutes.

As the dough is resting, mix the cinnamon with the brown sugar.

After the dough has rested, roll it out into a rectangle.

Preparing the dough

Spread dough with vegan butter, then sprinkle each dough evenly with your sugar mixture. You can add other items to your filling like nuts or raisins.

Adding the good stuff

Roll the dough on the longer side, then cut the rolls so that you have even slices. Tip – use a serrated knife – it’s so much easier!

Rolling and cutting the dough

Place rolls in a lightly greased baking pan. (A cookie sheet also works fine.) Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes.

Letting the rolls rise

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (Idea: I would try reducing the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit), and make your vegan cream cheese frosting. I just came across this vegan cream cheese made by Follow Your Heart, the company that is responsible for the goodness that is Vegenaise. Their cream cheese works great in the frosting recipe.

Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Cream Cheese Alternative

Bake rolls in your preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes (Idea: if you reduce the temperature, bake for 20 minutes and check to make sure they are done – if not, bake another five minutes and check again).

Vegan Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

In the end, these rolls did not taste a lot like pumpkin, but they were still good. I do wish that I had kept them in the oven for longer, but as you can see in the picture above, they were already getting brown on top. To be honest, I doubt that I will try to improve this recipe. While I like pumpkin, I do not like it enough to try to make this particular recipe work for me. I have too many other ideas I want to try – so be on the lookout for those in the future!

Yum.

Have you made pumpkin cinnamon rolls before? How did they turn out?

Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

I guess you could say that I’m on a cookie binge lately. I really love cookies, but I don’t make them very much because I don’t really like to share, which always means more for me! – but also means, more for my thighs! If only “vegan” preceding “cookie” meant calorie-free, bland, and boring in our household; I’m afraid it’s quite the opposite.

I have been meaning to try to find a vegan oatmeal raisin cookie recipe, but haven’t really spent the time and effort until just the other day. Luckily for me I found a winner on the first try which doesn’t always happen. This is an amazing recipe: plump and sugary raisins, a little crispy where the brown sugar didn’t get fully mixed into the rest of the batter and still chewy on the second day. It’s a rich and hearty cookie, too, so you only really need one or two before you’re satiated.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Via VeganFamilyFavorites.com

Note: I halved this recipe and it still yielded me 14 cookies. For bigger cookies or for two dozen normal sized cookies you can make the full recipe.

• 1 cup vegan butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• Egg replacer for 2 eggs (If using flax, you can mix 2 tablespoons ground flax seed with 6 tablespoons of hot water)
• 1-1/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups oats
• 1-1/2 cups raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large mixing bowl, beat margarine, brown sugar, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy.

Mixing the first part of the batter

Add egg replacer eggs and beat until well blended.

Adding egg replacer

In another bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to margarine mixture (or vice versa, which is what I did!) until well blended.

Continuing to work on the batter for oatmeal raisin cookies

Stir in oats, raisins, and nuts (if using).

Finally - the stars: oats and the raisins!

On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or a nonstick cookie sheet) drop the dough by 1/4 cupfuls (or large spoonfuls) and pat down slightly. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until edges begin to brown.

Ready to go into the oven

Let stand for 3 minutes before removing from baking sheet.

Yum - vegan oatmeal raisin cookies

A lot of cookies allow for a ton of creativity, but these cookies are kind of fun with how much you can do. Maybe next time I’ll add in some peanut butter and/or peanuts, and substitute chocolate chips for the raisins. How do you make your cookies?